


Stupid Spiderkid's Fault

by SilverMyfanwy



Series: One Spiderkid and his Clan [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bombs, Childhood Memories, Crying, Dinner, Embarrassment, Family Dinners, Getting Together, Homework, Hospitals, Injury, M/M, Major Character Injury, Marriage Proposal, Missions, Mistaken Identity, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Pepper and Tony have basically adopted him, Peter gets injured, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Steve and Bucky realise they can be together, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Unconsciousness, Waking up in the middle of the night, for a bit, they all think Tony is Peter's dad, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-15 22:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16072655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMyfanwy/pseuds/SilverMyfanwy
Summary: Tony had not been aware of Peter's habit for changing people's lives for the better through, awkward, painful and sometimes sleep-depriving incidents. It didn't take long for everyone to notice it, particularly Steve and Bucky.





	Stupid Spiderkid's Fault

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first piece of MCU fanfiction I ever started writing. Looking at it, it feels messy and all over the place but it makes me smile.  
> I hope you like it.  
> Please leave kudos and comments because it makes me feel better about having just failed a Chemistry test (as I post this), even though the two have absolutely no connection.

“So, um, how long have you two been together for?” Peter nodded to Steve and Bucky.

Tony had invited him over for dinner so that he could get to know the rest of the team off the battlefield before he moved into the compound. Natasha, Sam, Clint, Rhodey, Bruce, Thor, Wanda, Pepper, Tony and Scott all stopped eating and stared either at Peter or the pair of super-soldiers. Bucky had frozen still, staring down at his plate, and Steve seemed to be struggling to think of an answer.

“We’re, um, we’re not together.” Steve said awkwardly, fiddling with his fork.

“Oh I am so sorry!” Peter had gone bright red. “Sorry! Sorry! I just thought that-”

“It’s fine kid.” Bucky said. “Just leave it.”

Pepper hastily changed the subject. “Tony, how have your alterations to the suit been going?”

A few minutes later, when conversation was flowing smoothly again, Bucky left the table without a word.

This wasn’t unusual. Most of them left the table at some point, needing a break. Bucky left most often; he’d seen the worst out of all of them. What was uncommon, however, was that Steve didn’t go after him nearly straight away. He didn’t leave the table until all the pizza was gone and then he excused himself rather hurriedly, heading in the opposite direction to Bucky.

“You don’t think I-” Peter began, but Clint cut him off.

“No. Neither of them would walk off because of something like that. They’re not that sensitive.”

“What made you think that they were together anyway?” Natasha asked, taking a tub of coffee ice cream all for herself.

Peter went bright red. Natasha snickered, while Thor outright bellowed.

“Oi! Nat, stop embarrassing my apprentice!” Tony brandished a spoon at her.

“But he’s cute when he’s embarrassed!”

“He could also stick you to the ceiling.” Bruce pointed out.

“Spoilsport.” Natasha muttered. “Come on, what made you think it?”

“Well, just,” Peter rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, “I s’pose it’s the way they act with each other or something, I don’t know, it was a stupid thing to think. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry!” Natasha was aghast. “That was one of the best things I’ve heard in ages!”

“Then why didn’t you laugh?” Wanda asked her.

“If I’d laughed Barnes would have punched my shoulder in through one side and out the other.” she gave a long laugh. “But I can laugh now.”

“You’re so weird.” Wanda muttered but shut up from the glare she got.

-

Two days later, the Avengers were called on a mission.

A string, a literal string, of bombs had been set up in Norfolk, Virginia, and the Avengers had been rung when Bomb Squad had shown up and found that the bombs were glowing bright green. The timer- which was at one hour, eighteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds- gave them enough confidence that they had time to bring someone else in to deal with it. After all, getting blown up in the line of duty was one thing, but potentially being given apples for hands was a whole other thing entirely.

Tony received the call, which lasted a grand total of 29 seconds, slammed his phone onto a workbench, swore, and then marched up to the common area.

“What the hell are you watching?” he demanded, gesturing to the TV which everyone was laughing it.

“Iron Man’s Twenty Best Fails of All Time.” Thor managed to wheeze out.

“JARVIS, turn the TV off.” Tony commanded. “And set me a reminder to write a complaint to the channel it was on.”

JARVIS did as it was told, much to the annoyance of the crew.

“Calm down!” Tony yelled. “There’s a situation in Virginia, some bombs glowing green. We need to go _now_.”

The attitude of the room changed instantly as everyone rushed to get ready.

“Hey Rogers!”

Steve turned around from the doorway he was halfway through.

“I need you to go and pick up Peter.”

“What?”

“Go and get Peter out of school. We’ll need him. He goes to Midtown Science, make an excuse, we’ll meet you there.” Tony left the room before Steve had time to argue back. “Oh, and wear civilian clothes. And pretend you’re a distant uncle or something. He doesn’t want his identity revealed.”

“What about getting my suit on?”

“You can get changed on the plane.”

-

“Excuse me, is this Mr Hunt’s class?” Steve stuck his head around the door or Room 19C.

The teacher looked up from helping a student. “Yes, can I help you?”

“Yeah, I’m here to collect Peter Parker, there’s been a family emergency.”

Peter began shoving textbooks into his bag.

“What is your connection to Peter?”

“Cousin twice removed.” Steve waved a bit of paper he seemed to have got from reception.

Mr Hunt turned to Peter. “Peter, is this your cousin?”

Peter nodded.

Mr Hunt sighed. “You may go.”

Peter grabbed his bag and dashed out of the classroom. “What’s going on, Mr Captain America sir?”

“Just call me Steve.”

“Okay.”

“Some glowing green bombs in Norfolk in Virginia. Avengers have been called in. We’re going back to the compound so we can fly out there now.” Steve broke into a run the moment they left the school grounds.

“Why are we running?” Peter asked.

“Quicker than driving.” Steve gestured to the traffic.

“Hey si- Steve, I’m sorry about the other night again, it was wrong of me to presume anything and-” a voice in Peter’s head was screaming at him to stop rambling because he was probably only making it worse by bringing it up again but another voice was screaming at him just as loudly that he should carry on apologising and that if they weren’t running he ought to get on his knees and start grovelling, “it made things awkward and I don’t want you to think I’m some weird-”

“Weird? Really?”

Peter, whose mind was very easily distracted, began to wonder what in the super serum made Steve look so effortlessly cool while running to get on a plane to go and deactivate some bombs. “Well, yeah, coz-”

Steve snorted. “I live in a talking building with a Norse god, kid.”

“Oh yeah.” Peter went bright red.

Natasha was waiting for them at the door, saving Peter from embarrassing himself in front of _the_ Captain America even further by grabbing him by the shoulder and steering him towards a launch pad.

“If your cheeks go any more red they’re gonna see it from outer space and take it as an invitation to come and invade.” she muttered.

“Who’s they?”

“Aliens.”

“I keep forgetting they exist.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

The flight went without incident and the bomb disposal nearly went without a single hitch until Peter got injured as the last one was being neutralised.

“Spiderman’s down!” Natasha shouted through her head piece and rushed to his side. Tony joined her and took Peter’s mask off.

“FRIDAY, give him a scan.”

“Mr Parker appears to be unconscious and have three metal pins sticking into his left leg.” FRIDAY reported.

“How big are the pins?”

“I believe them to be about four centimetres long.”

“Four? I need a med team in here now.”

“We don’t have a med team.” Natasha reminded Tony.

“Then get Bruce over here instead!”

“Bruce!” Natasha said through her headset. “We need a medic for Spiderman.”

“What‘s happened?”

“Is it bad?”

“Yep.”

“Can you move him?”

“Tony?”

Tony nodded and scooped Peter up as if he weighed nothing. “Yes.”

“Then bring him to the plane.”

“FRIDAY, tell the rest of the team to get back to the plane. We’re leaving as soon as Peter’s stable.” Tony ordered.

“What about clean-up, sir? There is rather a large mess.”

Natasha was almost jogging to keep up with Tony as he strode to the plane.

“The army can do that. Their fault Peter got injured in the first place.”

Bruce was waiting at the door of the plane. “Have you scanned him?”

“What do you think?” Tony snapped “Where do I put him?”

Bruce pushed scattered papers off the table in the centre of the plane and they fluttered onto the floor. “Put him on there.”

“Bombs are gone, get the army in for clear-up.” Natasha told Scott.

“How do I do that?”

“Get Rhodey to help you.”

The doors of the plane slid shut as the last of the plane came in.

“Who got hit?” Wanda demanded, unable to see past the people crowded around the table. She hated wearing a headset- something to do with her powers- and relied on hearing people yell rather than hearing people mutter.

“Peter.” Natasha told her.

Wanda gave a sharp intake of breath. “Is he going to be okay?”

“Might lose a leg but he won’t lose his life.” Bruce was examining the entry points underneath Peter’s kneecap. “There’s no way they can get pulled out like this, he’ll need an operation.”

“Can we fly him back to the Tower?” Tony demanded. “Coz there’s no way we can just rock up at ER with genetically enhanced superhero.”

“Flying’s not an option.” Bruce’s voice was low and ever so slightly scared. "Don’t think we could drive him, either.”

“Then I’ll charge the suit up and I’ll carry him back to the Tower. That kind of flying must be fine.” Tony was getting more and more agitated.

“You can’t fly all the way back to New York.” Natasha said. “It’s too far.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on.” Bucky murmured to Steve. “Why can’t they take Red Suit back to the hospital?”

“I think we ought to just leave him in a ditch somewhere.” Steve said bluntly, folding his arms and glaring down at the table.

Heads whipped to stare angrily at him.

“What did you just say?” Tony demanded, getting up from where he’d been kneeling next to the table and marching across the room to have one of his blasters aimed at Steve’s chest. Bucky immediately pulled a gun and a dagger out from somewhere on his person and stood directly in front of Steve.

“What did you just say about my son?” Tony demanded.

“Deadpool’s your _son_?” Steve blanched. “But I thought-”

“That’s not Deadpool, that’s Peter! Peter Parker! Spiderman! Who you picked up from school to bring here!” Tony yelled, half exasperated and half furious. It was a sign of how worried he was that he didn’t make a jibe about Steve’s eyesight or memory in relation to his age.

“Peter’s your _son_?” everyone in the room gasped.

“No!” Tony tugged at his hair and made a noise of frustration. “Well, not blood or anything, I’m not his father, but… he’s like my kid. I see him as my kid.” he admitted with a sigh.

“Are you sure you aren’t his father?” Rhodey asked skeptically. “I mean, it would explain so much if you were, the genius, the-”

“Shut up.” Tony spat. “He’s unconscious with bits of metal in his leg and all you’re doing is debating who his father is!”

At this, Steve pushed Bucky out of the way so he could move closer to the table and see Peter. “Couldn’t you operate on him in here? If you can’t get him to the compound.”

Bruce shook his head. “I don’t have the right equipment and there isn’t anywhere near the level of cleanliness required to operate on him.”

“It’s not that dirty,” Thor said, looking around the plane. “There’s only a little bit of dirt.”

“What equipment do you need?” Natasha asked, pulling out her phone and typing into it.

“Just a standard operating theatre.” Bruce leaned over the table to check Peter’s pulse “We need to hurry this up in case there’s something poisonous in the metal.”

“There’s a hospital seven minutes away.” Natasha held her phone out to Tony so he could see the website. “Just hire one of the theatres.”

“You can’t do that!” Scott said angrily. “Someone might be on a waiting list to get their hip done or something!”

“Peter’s going to be on a waiting list to get his leg amputated if nothing’s done.” Steve said bluntly.

“Ring up the hospital and tell them we’re coming in and to get a theatre prepped but that we don’t want any of their doctors. You and me will do it.” Tony gestured to Bruce.

Natasha dialled the number into her phone and then tossed it to Steve. “You do it. They’ll do whatever Captain America tells them to do.”

Steve sighed slightly wearily but put the phone to his ear anyway. “Hello this is Captain America. No, this isn’t a prank call. The Avengers need to use one of you operating theatres right away. We want it prepped and ready to go. None of your staff. Tony Stark will pay you.” Steve put a hand over the phone. “What’s our ETA?”

“They’ve got ten minutes.” Tony said.

“We’ll be there in ten minutes.” Steve told the hospital, then frowned and turned away from the phone again. “They want twenty.”

“Tell them they’ve got fifteen and I’ll give them ten million bucks if they’re ready in ten.”

Steve relayed the information and handed the phone back to Natasha. “They’ll be ready in ten.”

“Let’s go.” Tony moved forwards to pick Peter up but Bruce stopped him.

“You probably shouldn’t carry him to the hospital.” Bruce said gently. “In fact, you shouldn’t carry him to the hospital at all.”

“Why not?”

“There isn’t any time to go into great detail on the science but it’s far safer for Peter if someone else carries him.” Bruce explained.

Tony scowled but gave a curt nod. “Who’s gonna carry Peter, then?” without giving anyone an opportunity to volunteer, he started to rule out people. “Not Natasha, not Sam, not Bucky, not Clint, not Rhodey, not Bruce, not Scott, not Wanda, definitely not you Thor, that leaves Steve.”

“I’m carrying Peter?”

“On second thought, you’re taking him, Clint.” Tony decided. “Hang on, where is Clint? And where’s Sam? They’re not in here.”

“I’ll go and find them!” Thor offered enthusiastically and dashed out of the plane.

Tony sighed. “Steve, you’re carrying him again.”

“Shall I?” he waved his arms vaguely around Peter’s head.

“Just pick him up and get moving to the hospital before he dies!” Tony yelled. “Get on with it!”

Steve took a deep breath and picked Peter up, one arm beneath his knees and one arm at the top of his back. Peter’s head immediately lolled backwards.

“Support his head!” several people shouted.

“I don’t have three arms, someone else hold his head!”

Bucky, who was closest, darted forwards and rested Peter’s head on Steve’s upper arm. “Don’t move your arm and his head won’t fall down again.”

“He looks like a baby.” Wanda said. “With his head on your arm like that and everything.”

“Yeah, just like a baby!” Tony said enthusiastically, waving his arms around. “An overgrown, lycra-wearing, genetically-enhanced baby who works for the Avengers and is currently possibly dying!” Tony finished it off with a string of swear words and profanities bad enough to make even Scott turn his head.

“Open the ramp!” Steve yelled and turned towards the ramp, which began opening slowly.

Bucky growled and slammed his shoulder into it to make it open faster and it slammed onto ground with a heavy bang. Steve strode out and Natasha took the lead of the group.

“Scott, you stay here and guard the plane.” Rhodey yelled back when Tony was too preoccupied to make the order.

They walked through the deserted town, past the bomb site and an abandoned restaurant with food still on the tables. A huge building rose up against the skyline, all shining metal and blacked out windows.

They found the main door and soon encountered a spotty teenage boy at the desk, cleaning his nails with a pen nib, who clearly did not feel that he was paid enough to deal with several angry superheroes and one unconscious one. He clearly hadn’t been expecting it, either. “Uh, what was that you said again?”

“We’re hiring an operating theatre, we rang ahead it should be ready by now.” Tony slammed his fist on the counter.

“I’ll ring operating.” the boy dialled a number on a phone, made a few grunting noises and put it down again. “They’re just waiting for someone to be able to come own and take you up there.”

Bucky spent two seconds reading the map. “We can find our own way there.”

“Are you sure?” the boy asked.

“Yes.” Bucky strode down a corridor and the rest of the Avengers followed.

“Thank you!” Steve called back to the boy over his shoulder.

“Less thanking, more walking.” Tony clamped a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “You do know where you’re going, right Bucky?”

Bucky nodded. “Right this way boss.”

-

The operation took less than an hour, after Bruce finally managed to get the fussing hospital staff out of the operating theatre by threatening to Hulk-out on them.

Whilst Peter was being operated on, the rest of the team sat in a corridor, some on chairs and some on the floor.

“Hope he’s alright.” Steve muttered.

“Yeah.” Bucky had his elbows resting on his knees and he was staring at the floor.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Just rememberin’ when you were the ill one and I’d sit outside your room or next to your bed or even outside the front door sometimes.”

“You used to sit outside my front door?” Steve barely even notice he’d slipped back into his old Brooklyn accent.

Bucky nodded. “The times when your ma were too busy to come to the door or you were too ill for her to leave you to get the door. When you had somethin’ nasty that I could pick up and I wasn’t allowed near you. I’d just stand in the passageway or sit outside the front door for hours.”

“Why?” Steve whispered.

“Wanted to be as close to you as I could be. An-” Bucky’s voice caught. He took a deep breath. “An then I’d hear your ma straight away if- if- if you didn’t get better one day. I couldn’t stand not knowing if you were still in Brooklyn or if you’d gone somewhere… better… somewhere you could breathe and there weren’t any illnesses for you to get.”

“You’re shaking.” Steve whispered.

“I shook back then.”

Steve buried his face in the crook of Bucky’s neck.

-

The operation went smoothly and the hospital had their ten million dollars and operating theatre back in just under an hour.

The team cheered when Tony came out to give them the good news. “He’s still fast asleep so we aren’t gonna fly him home; we’re just going to get a car and we’ll drive him there instead.”

“Couldn’t you just wait for him to wake up?” Steve asked.

Tony shook his head. “No. Can’t risk anyone finding out who he is and I don’t want to stay here any longer than necessary.”

Thor choose that moment to show up, dragging Clint by the ear and with Sam trailing along behind him,

“Nat please make him let go of me!” Clint begged, head twisted at what must have been a _very_ uncomfortable angle.

“Supposedly, he’s a god, so there’s not much I can do.” she shrugged, palms facing the sky.  

“I found them for you!” Thor beamed at Tony, releasing Clint, who immediately clapped a hand to his ear. “They’d fallen in a pond and neither of them appear to be very good at swimming because I had to drag them out and dry them off.”

“How did you end up in a pond?” Tony asked incredulously.

“Never mind that, why are we in a hospital?” Sam demanded. “Who’s- Peter. Is he okay?”

“He is now. He got some metal in his leg and we had to operate on him to get it out but everything’s fine. We’re going back to the compound now. Have any of you got a car?”

“I don’t have it with me.” Clint said. “Why do you need a car? You can fly?”

“We need to get Peter back to the compound in a car.” Tony explained.

“What sort of car do you want?” Bucky asked, getting to his feet.

Natasha laughed. “Just imagine Tony driving a station wagon.”

“No. Absolutely not.” Tony said firmly, folding his arms. “We’ll just go up to the army and get an SUV.”

“How are the rest of us getting back?” Clint asked.

“You lot can go in the jet. Me and Peter, Bruce and Nat are going in a car.”

“Why am I going in a car?” Natasha asked.

“To cover my back as I get Peter out if there’s an ‘accident’.”

“If you need car cover, you want Barnes, really.” Nat folded her arms. “But alright.”

“Getting an SUV off the army’ll take ages; do you want me to just go and get one?” Bucky offered to Tony, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

“Where are you going to get one from?” Steve asked.

“I’ll just go and get one out of a parking space.” Bucky said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You can’t just steal one!” Steve was aghast.

“Why not?”

“It’s illegal!”

“And?”

“No stealing cars. Tell him, Tony.”

“No stealing cars.” Tony said.

“Thank you.” Steve said.

“This time.” Tony finished. “Sam, you and I are going to go and see the army boss here. Come on.”

-

The flight home started badly. The plane shook from side to side and seemed to be going backwards at one point.

“What’s going on?” Thor asked, mildly amused. "This is fun and I’m really enjoying this, but I thought that your mortal plane rides were supposed to be smooth and not like Frejya’s chariot when her cats had drunk too much beer.”

“You gave cats beer?” Clint asked, shocked.

“Of course! We gave everyone and everything beer on Asgard!” Thor said cheerily.

“Who’s steering the jet?” Steve asked.

No one knew.

“I’m taking over.” Steve swung open the door to the cockpit.

“Thank goodness!” Scott wailed. “I don’t know why I’m flying this thing but you can take over now!” he scrambled over the back of the seats and into the cargo bay.

Steve stared at the controls, most of which were on flashing computer screens. “Sam! Or um… Bucky!”

“What is it?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know how to fly a plane with computers.”

“And you think I know how to?” Bucky peered over Steve’s shoulder.

“I’ll do it.” Sam sighed and took the controls, sitting in the pilot’s chair. “Good thing at least one of us knows what to do.”

“Does he know what he’s doing?” Bucky whispered to Steve a few minutes later.

Steve nodded. “You would’ve known by now if he didn’t.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

Steve frowned. “Hang on, if you were worried that he didn’t know what to do, why didn’t you ask earlier?”

“I trust you.” Bucky said simply. “And you weren’t worried, so I wasn’t either.”

“Oh.”

-

It was quarter past two in the morning when the alarm went off at the compound.

“Perimeter Alert, this is a Code Orange Perimeter Alert, all Avengers to their posts! Code Orange! Code Orange PA!” JARVIS reported loudly again and again and again to the backing track of screaming sirens.

Bucky had no idea what to do. He wasn’t sure if he was an Avenger, let alone if he had a post. He didn’t like the sound of a Code Orange Perimeter Alert and there was no way he was getting back to sleep with the wailing sirens so he did the logical thing and grabbed his rifle and a handful of grenades and went looking for Steve. He took the quickest route to his room: through the air conditioning vent.

“Steve, what’s the alarm going off for?” he swung himself out of the shaft to land crouching on the foot of Steve’s bed. Steve was hopping around, trying to pull on his suit in the dark.

“Means something’s happened to the perimeter and we need to get in position to deal with invaders.”

“Invaders?”

“Yeah. Oh for hell’s sake building, turn the light on in here!”

“Code Orange Perimeter Alert forbids me from turning any lights on until the Code Orange Perimeter Alert has been lifted in case the light aids an intruder.” JARVIS said.

Steve sighed and managed to get the rest of his suit on.

“Where’s your post?”

Steve froze. “What do you mean?”

“The building said to go to your posts. I don’t have one, so I’m going with you.”

“Okay. Um, my post is by the lifts.” Steve grabbed is shield off the back of the door and ran out, Bucky following him.

They ran to the nearest stair well, which also had two lift doors in it. “Up there.” Steve pointed to the wall above the side of the lift. “There’s a secret compartment.”

He threw the shield at the wall and a door swung open.

“Will we both fit?” Bucky asked.

“Yes.” Steve jumped up and into it and Bucky followed him. Steve pressed some buttons in a panel in the wall as Bucky squeezed himself in and a light turned on and the door swung shut. Bucky realised it was a one-way mirror.

They were packed into the compartment like sardines in a tin, and Bucky would know as he’d worked in a canning factory for a while back when things were simpler.

They sat in there for around an hour, legs pressed against each other and shoulders touching. Nothing happened. No one appeared. The building didn’t speak.

“Do you think it’s over?” Bucky whispered eventually.

“I think it might have been a false alarm.” Steve pressed another button on the panel and a radio crackled quietly.

“Everything alright with you, Captain?” Tony only sounded mildly stressed. “You’re keepin' an eye on Bucky, aren’t you, right? Coz if he’d Winter Soldier-ed in the night and caused this, I’m blaming it all on you, Rogers.”

“I’m right here.” Bucky said dryly.

“Oh hey Buckaroo. Either of you seen anything?”

“No.”

“Okay, well, it’s been ages and nothing's happened. I’m calling a team meeting in the common area in four minutes. See you there.” The radio switched off.

“Team Meeting in the common area in four minutes with compulsory attendance, Team Meeting in the common area in four minutes with compulsory attendance.” a tannoy started saying very loudly, practically in Steve and Bucky’s ears. They tumbled over each other in their rush to get out and away from the noise. They landed on the floor with a thump, Bucky sprawled on top of Steve.

Their heart rates picked up and they stared at each other, too stunned to move. Their noses were almost touching and they were staring each other in the eye.

Then the tannoy blared its message out again, jolting them back to their senses and Bucky climbed off Steve, then pulled him up to his feet.

They walked cautiously to the common area, treading silently and checking over their shoulders with every step. Natasha walked silently out of the shadows to join them on the final flight of stairs, but other than that they didn’t see or hear anyone.

It was quite a sight to behold in the common area: Antman, Thor, Falcon, Captain America, Hawkeye and Ironman all suited, booted and ready to strike; Natasha and Bucky armed to the teeth; Pepper in KEVLAR; Wanda and Bruce in jeans with guns and Peter in baggy pyjamas and an oversized hoodie with messy hair and bleary eyes.

“Wassa goin’ on?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his overhanging sleeves.

“Didn’t you hear the alarm?” Pepper asked.

“Yeah, it woke me up. That’s why I came down here. What’s going on, why are you all dressed up and armed and stuff?”

“That was only the second alarm you heard, Peter.” Tony said.

Peter winced suddenly. “Why is it that my leg hurts and why can’t I remember anything that happened since we landed in Norfolk? Did I get hurt?”

“Peter, we’ll talk about that later but for now we need to discuss the Code Orange Perimeter Alert.” Tony said tensely.

Peter was getting more and more confused and slightly worried. “What’s that? What causes it?”

“It means there’s been some sort of gap in the building’s defenses.”

“Do you know where the breach is?” Pepper asked.

“No.”

Peter tentatively put his hand up.

“Yes Peter?”

“Would an open window cause this alarm to go off?”

“Yes. Why?”

Peter winced sheepishly. “I woke up in the middle of the night and I was too hot so I opened a window.”

“Why do the windows in your room open?” Natasha demanded. “They’re supposed to be shut all the time so that no one can get in and get you.”

“I had to adjust that so that _he_ could climb in and get stuff. Why didn’t you just tell JARVIS to put the air conditioning on?” Tony explained.

Peter shrugged. “If I close it, will it cancel out this alarm and mean that I find out why my leg hurts and there is a huge gap missing from my memory?”

“Go and close his bedroom window.” Tony told Thor.

“No!” Peter shrieked. “No, no, no, not a good idea!”

“Why not?” Pepper asked. “What’ve you got in there?”

“Want me to go and check it out?” Clint offered.

“Leave it, Clint. Peter, why can’t Thor go in your room?” Tony felt more like a parent than ever before.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck and flushed to a shade of red that almost matched the colour of his suit. “I’ve… um… got homework spread all over the floor and I don’t want anyone to see it.”

“Why not?”

Peter muttered something incomprehensible.

“What did you say?”

“It’s embarrassing.” Peter said. “Can I go and move it before anyone goes in?”

“Is it sex ed?” Clint beamed until Natasha slapped him on the shoulder. “Hey!”

Tony sighed and nodded. “Yes, but be quick. I want to go back to sleep.”

“No.” Sam said quickly. “That’s not a good idea, for him to go in unprotected. Someone else should move it. Who’d you trust most, kid?”

“The person I trust the most is the one I least want to see it and…” Peter stared at the floor and trailed off. Then he caught sight of Scott. “Oh! Antman! You could do it! If you go in ant size you’ll be able to move it but you won’t see what it is, either!”

“What is it that you want me to move?” Scott asked, confused.

“Uh, if you could just move all the paper on the floor from under my bed? Please?”

Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose and shut her eyes. “How much paper is on your bedroom floor, Peter?”

“It’s completely covered in paper.”

“What sort of papers?”

“It’s got plans and diagrams and school stuff and calculations on it. Oh, and research.”

“He takes after you.” Pepper said flatly to Tony. “Leaving important documents all over the floor.”

Peter tried to hide his beam and a smile flickered across Tony’s face.

“Does that mean I have to be careful with the stuff?” Scott asked. “So that none of it gets ripped or damaged.”

“Probably. I’ll show you where my room is.”

Scott moved the papers and Thor went in to shut the window.

“Has the alert gone off?” Steve asked when Thor returned.

“JARVIS, perimeter alert update.” Tony commanded.

“Perimeter Status is green, sir.” JARVIS responded. “Everything is as it should be.”

“We can go back to bed!” Clint cheered.

-

“Two hours and seventeen minutes in the middle of the night all because the stupid Spiderkid opened a window.” Bucky said, sitting on the edge of Steve’s bed.

Steve nodded and yawned. “He didn’t mean any harm.”

“At least we didn’t have to explain yesterday to him.”

“Poor kid.” Steve sat next to Bucky.

“Is he Tony’s son? I know Tony said he wasn’t but…”

“I think they might have unofficially adopted him because he still stays with his aunt sometimes but he isn’t Tony’s blood son.”

“Orphan?”

“Yeah.”

“Did I…”

“No.” Steve felt Bucky relax slightly.

“I’m going to get some more sleep. See you later.”

“Sleep well Buck.”

-

“Why are you standing outside the Spiderkid’s room keeping guard and why are you picking the lock?” Bucky asked Clint and Natasha, who he had found in a corridor on his way to the shops.

“We want to find out what the homework he’s embarrassed about is and also Tony told us to do it.” Clint explained.

“Won’t picking the lock set off an alarm?”

“Tony likes to be able to pick the locks to other people’s rooms, so the alarm can be turned off.” Natasha gave a final twist with the lock pick and the door opened.

“Why are there locks in the doors anyway?”

“Tony calls it ‘old-fashioned charm’. See ya, Bucky.” Clint and Natasha walked into the room and shut the door behind them.

-

“Did you manage to get back to sleep alright after last night?” Peter asked Steve, slightly apologetically.

They were sitting at the dining table, Steve drinking mid-morning coffee after his second jog of the day and Peter in a onesie eating a bowl of cereal.

“Yeah. Did someone tell you what happened in Norfolk?”

Peter nodded.

“How’s your leg doing?”

“Almost completely better. Doesn’t hurt.”

“Did they tell you I thought you were Deadpool, at first, when we got in the plane and you were lying on the table in your suit and I was at a distance from it?”

“Did you?”

“Yep. And, because I thought you were Deadpool, I said we ought to leave you in a ditch.”

Peter’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“I thought Tony was going to kill me.”

“Because you thought I was Deadpool?”

“No. Because of what I’d accidently said about his son.”

Peter seemed to glow a little bit. Steve beamed internally.

“You got school today?”

“No, I’m on break.”

“They give you any interesting homework?”

“I get to do this really cool…”

-

“This folder’s labelled art homework. D’you reckon this is it?” Clint held a folder out to Natasha.

She took the folder and pulled out the papers inside. She looked through them and nodded. “I think it is.”

“Shall I get Tony?”

“Yeah.”

Natasha checked Peter’s location on her phone. “He’s still in the dining room.”

Clint left and Nat looked through the pictures in the folder while she waited for him to come back.

“Have you found it?” Tony asked, rubbing his hands together expectantly.

Nat handed the folder over wordlessly. Tony was silent as he looked in it.

“You didn’t plant this here, did you?” Tony said eventually, voice cracking.

Nat shook her head.

“What is it?” Clint asked.

Tony placed the folder on Peter’s bed and walked out. Natasha pretended not to notice the tears in his eyes.

-

Homework had definitely not been as interesting in Steve’s few years at school as it was now for Peter. He did not have to fake his fascination as they discussed it for half an hour, until Bucky came in, looking, hot, bothered, and thoroughly confused.

“You okay, Buck?” Steve looked up, worried.

Bucky sat down, placed his palms on the table and stared Peter in the eyes. “I was waling along a normal busy street and I saw two men holding hands and hugging and kissing in public. Please explain.”

It took Peter a moment to think of an answer. “Um… some people are gay? And bi and pan and queer and stuff. And it’s okay to say queer now. And it’s all perfectly legal. Gay couples can get married and adopt kids and everything.”

“Did you know this?” Bucky gaped at Steve.

Steve shook his head. “I knew it all happened, before, back in the forties, but it was hidden until it was almost invisible back then and now- it’s really legal?”

Peter nodded.

“And people don’t mind?” Bucky asked.

Peter pulled a face. “Well, some people do, but they’re just stupid and mean.”

“So- so men can be in relationships with men and women in relationships with women?” Bucky checked.

“Yeah.”

The door flung open and slammed against the wall. Tony stormed in, tears welling in his eyes. "Peter.”

“What is it?” fear flashed across Peter’s face. “Is it May? Is it-”

“I saw your homework.”

Peter froze.

Tony held his arms out. “C’mere, son.”

Steve feared slightly for Peter’s ribs as he gestured to Bucky that it would probably be best for them not to leave. They walked out silently.

-

“Men can be with men. Women can be with women.” Bucky murmured under his breath like a mantra. “Why didn’t we know about this sooner? Why- why didn’t it happen sooner, Steve, why didn’t it happen in the forties? Before I went to war and you got turned into Captain America?”

“Attitudes were different then, I guess. Did- would you have liked it to be legal then?”

“Hell yeah!” Bucky ran a hand through his hair. “Oh if that had been legal then I could have- oh I could have gone dancing with men and not flapped about with dames, I could have got married, I could have-” he froze.

“What?”

Bucky shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“I know I would have asked you to go dancing with me.” Steve said, face not giving anything away. “And I sure as hell know I would have married you the night before you shipped out.”

Bucky kissed him. And then again. And a few more times after that.

“I’m never gonna stop kissing you.” he promised. “Never gonna stop huggin’ you, never gonna stop holdin’ your hand, never gonna stop showin’ the world we’re together.”

“Don’t ever stop.” Steve kissed Bucky. “Marry me?”

“Yes, yes, to the end of the line yes, but I want you to ask me properly, in front of everyone, in your dress uniform, on one knee with a shiny ring.”

“Only if you promised to pretend to cry.”

“Darlin’, I ain’t gonna need to pretend.” Bucky pressed their foreheads together. “I love you.” he whispered softly.

“I love you.”

They started kissing again.

The door opened.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sam demanded.

They broke apart and Bucky grinned. “I’m kissing Steve.”

“You’re kissing _Steve_?”

“Not anymore he isn’t.” Steve grumbled under his breath. Bucky laughed and pressed sloppy kisses against his cheek.

“I found them! They’re in here sucking each other’s faces off!” Sam yelled, causing various inquisitive faces to appear in the doorway.

“This is all Spiderkid’s fault.” Bucky said, smiling. “He went and told us men could be together so we'll be doin’ a whole lot more o’ this from now on.”

“Just like Tony crying is Spiderkid’s fault.” Thor said, beaming as per usual.

Tony ruffled Peter’s hair. “And we couldn’t be more proud of him.”

“For making you cry?” Pepper and Clint asked incredulously.

“No! We are proud of you- _so_ proud- because without you this odd little family wouldn’t exist.” Tony smiled at Peter, who blushed. “You and your homework.”

“What was that homework?” Bruce asked. “If you don’t mind saying, Peter.”

“It was beautiful.” Natasha said. Peter buried his face in her shoulder.

“He had to draw who his family was and write why they were his family.” Tony said. “And he drew us.”

“All of us.” Clint added.

“Even me?” Bucky asked hopefully.

“Of course I drew you!” Peter said.

“I will cry and hug you later,” Bucky promised Peter, “but right now I’m catching up on all the years I missed not being able to kiss Steve.”

And he did.

That night there was kissing and hugging and crying and pizza and ice cream and cookies and Tony hung Peter’s homework on the wall- “You’ll have to draw a plant or something to take into school coz your teacher might rat on you being Spiderboy and there is no way I am rehanging that.”-,  Clint and Natasha planted a sunflower for Peter to draw, Sam turned out to be surprisingly good at doing the jive, Thor brought out his Asgardian mead- “Put that away there are minors present!” Pepper yelled at him-, Bruce left to check on some experiments and came back covered in purple goo, Wanda made smores with a click of her fingers and Steve and Bucky did a lot more kissing and they all carried on in the way all the best odd little families do with:

“Give me back my knife now Clint!”

“Why are there fridge magnets on my arm?”

“Who drew on my shield?”

“Stop throwing the hammer around!”

“What is that burning smell?” and “School starts in four minutes, you’ll have to take the helicopter.”

(“We have a helicopter?” Peter grabbed his rucksack and he and Wanda followed Tony through a door to the roof.

“Of course! What do you take me for, a peasant? How else am I supposed to go the library?”

“The library?”

Tony just winked and told the pilot where to go.)

-

Steve and Bucky got married two months later.

"This is is your fault.” Natasha glared at Peter as she scowled at the tie she was trying to straighten on Clint's jacket.

“You can leave his tie wonky. And you do get to wear combat boots.”

THE END.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me how you felt about Bucky and Steve revealing their feelings.  
> That's an awful sentence.  
> But still, feedback is really appreciated!


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